CANNES 2000: International Alliances and Dotcoms Highlight Market

The Cannes Film Market, filmdom’s most chaotic andvaried film circus, is again a hotbed of deal makingand announcements, despite grumblings that this year’sevent was notably slow. The word from internationalsellers is that Asia continues to recover from itseconomic doldrums and is an active buyer (particularlyKorea, which has its first ever film in theCompetition section, Im Kwon Taek‘s much-appreciated“Chunhyang“).

On the other hand, Europe is falling behind, withtheatrical attendance figures falling, pay televisionslowing down its rapid expansion and home videofaltering. In addition, the weak euro, which hasdragged down all the European currencies, is makingthe prices for films (determined in U.S. dollars) evenmore inflated. However, the real story is theoverwhelming presence of a new generation of Internetcompanies and the unveiling of several keyinternational alliances that will reshape thelandscape for some time to come.

U.S. Action

In a rare split-rights arrangement, Miramax andParamount Pictures jointly acquired North American andAustralian distribution rights to the British comedy“Lucky Break” which will be directed this summer by“The Full Monty’s” Peter Cattaneo (according toMonday’s Screen International). It was also reportedthat Miramax will split rights with ArtisanEntertainment to produce the sequel to “DirtyDancing,” reportedly to star Latin sensation RickyMartin.

Lions Gate announced the creation of a genre label(similar to Miramax’s Dimension Films) that will rollout up to 10 films per year while rumors were alsofloating around that the distributor will buy outindie distributor Trimark Pictures (“Slam,”“Eve’sBayou,”“Romance“) and will consolidate operationsbetween the two companies (Variety). In spite of thefew domestic sales announcements of films in and outof the market, U.S. deals have been few and farbetween. More acquisition news is expected soon onsome of the Asian films that have had an unprecedentedstrong showing in all Festival sections.

Sony Pictures Classics, usually one of the most activebuyers of foreign langauge films, is keeping a lowerprofile this year. Michael Barker recently toldindieWIRE that “he is still looking.” Sony does havetwo films in the festival (Ang Lee‘s “Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon” co-produced by Sony Classics, GoodMachine and Columbia Productions Asia, and AndruchaWaddington‘s Brazilian pic “Me You Them“). While thecompany will continue to try to find films for itsarthouse pipeline, Sony reps said they planned tospend most of their time in Cannes meeting withproducers, directors and reading scripts.

International Alliances Announced

Several key international alliances have beenannounced. Fine Line Features closed a deal for theNorth American rights for three upcoming projects fromZentropa, the Danish production company behind thefilms of international favorite Lars Von Trier, it wasreported in last week’s trades. The three films willbe shot in English by Zentropa Internationale, thecompany’s new international production arm, accordingto Variety: They include “The Last Born,” a sci-fithriller set in France and Germany, “Through A GlassDarkly,” a teen drama directed by Susanne Bier, whose“The One and Only” was Scandinavia’s biggest hit lastyear, and an undisclosed third picture.

European companies have announced key pan-Europeanalliances to challenge the dominance of the Americanmajors on their home turf. France’s Bac Films isjoining forces with German powerhouse Kinowelt tocreate a distribution network within Europe. Kinoweltis also partnered with Canada’s Alliance Atlantic inMomentum Pictures, which will release films in Englandand other English-speaking markets (HollywoodReporter). Also reported in Screen International, wasa strategic alliance between Kinowelt and Spain’sleading producer Andres Vicente Gomez that will givehis Lola Films rights to at least the first five filmsfrom Kinowelt USA, the newly announced Los Angelesproduction unit headed by long time producer ChrisSievernich. UK’s Redbus Film Distribution is forging apan-European video-on-demand syndicated with Germancompanies Helkon and Intertainment. The company alsoplans to actively pursue Internet rights for futurebroadband downloading applications.

Meanwhile, another UK/German giant may emerge from thealliance formed by Germany’s Constantin Film and theUK’s Propaganda Films. According to Sunday’s Screendaily, the partners will co-produce and distributefilms in the UK and Germany, with an expansion intoFrance, Scandinavia, Italy and Spain in the comingyears. The venture will have access to Propaganda’sroster of directors, including Spike Jonze, SimonWest, Mark Pellington and Dominic Sena, and actorssuch as Nicole Kidman and Matthew McConaughey.

Dot Cannes

Internet business-to-business companies, most makingtheir initial debuts in Cannes, are among the mostvisible and talked about companies along theCroisette. With marketing war chests that arestaggering even by Cannes standards, the Internetupstarts have blanketed the Croisette with giantposters, enormous banners, multiple office suites andcorporate logos on nearly every napkin, coaster,ashtray and svelte model in sight. It is all part ofan aggressive campaign to create industry awarenessand dominate market share.

The current industry leader is Reelplay.com, a LosAngeles based company that has the deep pockets ofSoftBank, a venture capital firm set up to launchInternet companies. Reelplay.com boasts the largestdatabase of films available for sale, presenting textinformation, promotion materials and downloadable filmtrailers for international film buyers to access at nofee. Reelplay.com also has the largest number ofregistered film buyers and is tracking how the systemis being used to facilitate sales and acquisitions.Co-President Stephen Liu has announced an initiativeto assist Independent Producers to access potentialfinanciers and distributors via the system.

Other b-to-b companies making their mark on theCroisette include: Filmbazaar.com, which launched asimilar service at the American Film Market andincludes editorial coverage of film events and marketsvia a network of over 30 international writers;ShowbizData.com, which in collaboration with theCannes Film Market and film tracking service FilmFinders inaugurated the official Cannes Market website(www.cannesmarket.com) to help buyers and sellers findeach other and transact business in the Cannes mayhem;Screen Exchange, a London-based promotion and trackingservice that includes both film and televisionprogramming on its site; and OnLine FilmSales.com, anewly announced venture that is part of theInternetStudios, a provider of original programmingfor the Internet, and that has the pedigree of two topexecutives from JVC and Polygram Films Internationalat the helm.

With all the companies aggressively going head to headto lock up buyers and sellers, and all offeringsimilar services on a no-fee basis, it is prettycertain that not all will survive an expected shakedown. All the companies acknowledge that there islimited room in the marketplace and that in the nextyear we’ll find only a couple left standing. Staytuned.

[Sandy Mandelberger is the President of InternationalMedia Resources, an international marketing, promotionand editorial content provider who works withindependent producers, distributors, sales companiesand film festivals to promote their films and events.]